The (2, 3)-generation of the finite 8-dimensional orthogonal groups (Q2687984)

A group is said to be \((2,3)\)-generated if it can be generated by an involution and an element of order \(3\). By a famous result of \textit{M. W. Liebeck} and \textit{A. Shalev} [Ann. Math. (2) 144, No. 1, 77--125 (1996; Zbl 0865.20020)], the finite simple classical groups are \((2,3)\)-generated, apart from the two infinite families \(\mathrm{PSp}_4(q)\) with \(q=2^f, 3^f,\) and a finite list of exceptions. The problem of determining which are exactly the members of this list requires a lot of detailed analysis and many authors gave several contributions to this question. The authors prove that the groups \(\Omega_8^+(q)\) and \(\mathrm{P}\Omega_8^+(q)\) are \((2,3)\)-generated if and only if \(q\geq 4,\) while the groups \(\Omega_8^-(q)\) and \(\mathrm{P}\Omega_8^-(q)\) are \((2,3)\)-generated for all \(q\geq 2.\) With this contribution, the problem of determine the exact list of exceptions remains possibly open only for orthogonal groups of dimension at least \(9\). The proof is based on constructing explicit generators.